Minimally Invasive System To Deliver, Retain Drugs In The Kidney

SUMMARY

Minimally invasive drug delivery system achieves extended therapeutic retention and homogeneous distribution of liquid drugs within the kidney, thereby improving treatment efficacy for upper urinary tract pathologies by overcoming rapid drug washout and challenging anatomical access

The Unmet Need: Limited effective drug retention and targeted delivery within the kidney for treatment

• Effective administration and retention of drugs inside the kidney remain significant clinical challenges due to the organ's high anatomical position, brief urine transit time, and compartmentalized structure which prevents uniform drug exposure. Current approaches include percutaneous and transurethral routes, yet these have critical limitations: percutaneous access requires sedation but does not improve drug retention or distribution, while transurethral access provides drug distribution but demands general anesthesia, allows only single administrations, and fails to address short dwell times of drugs in the kidney.

• There is a growing demand within the medical device and therapeutic sectors for minimally invasive, repeatable, and precise drug delivery systems to enhance local treatment efficacy for kidney diseases, including cancers and infections, to reduce systemic toxicity and procedural risks associated with existing methods.

Proposed solution: Transurethral catheter system with balloon fixation enabling repeated drug delivery and retention in the kidney

• The faculty inventor developed a catheter assembly including a guidewire, an open-tipped urethral council-tip catheter with an inflatable balloon, and a novel open-tipped single-J ureteral council-tip catheter also incorporating a balloon for renal positioning. This design stabilizes the device at the ureteropelvic junction, allowing it to remain implanted in the kidney for extended periods (days to weeks), enabling repeated administrations of liquid drugs while ensuring adequate contact time with the kidney lining.

• Unlike existing approaches, this system facilitates homogeneous drug distribution without requiring general anesthesia, is familiar to urologists and interventional radiologists, and permits outpatient treatment maintenance.

FIGURE

The above diagram shows how the catheter system would interact with the kidney. Balloons allow the catheter to stay in place while treatment is being delivered and the drug elution ports at the tip of the device allow for liquid drug to be delivered directly into the kidney. For patients who are likely to need further treatments, the systems can remain in the patient for days, weeks, or more.

ADVANTAGES

• Extended drug retention within kidney compartments
• Homogeneous intrarenal drug distribution
• Minimally invasive transurethral placement
• Repeated outpatient drug administration capability
• Balloon fixation for secure device positioning
• Utilizes familiar urological procedural techniques

APPLICATIONS

• Localized chemotherapeutic delivery for upper-tract urothelial carcinoma

• Antibiotic administration for kidney infections

• Pharmacological treatment of kidney stones using dissolving agents